Slice of Life: Art as Social Activity

Making Quidditch T-shirts

(Slice of Life is a month-long writing challenge to write every day in March, with a focus on the small moments. It is hosted by Two Writing Teachers. This year, I’m going to pop in and out, but not write daily slices, as I did for the past ten years of Slice of Life. You write, too.)

This requires more context than I can give right now but we play a version of Quidditch at our school (created by students 20 years ago). I’ve written about our game of Quidditch during many Slice of Life March moments over the years.

Along with the game itself, we incorporate all sorts of art and writing and much more. Yesterday, my students were making team t-shirts (team name: Arctic Bandits) and I watched with appreciation as they shared paints and ideas, offered help to each other when needed and made art as a social activity.

Things were messy, but art often is.

Peace (painted, chalked, drawn, shared),
Kevin

PS — this is a video we made years ago to show how we play our game of Quidditch

7 Comments
  1. Love this line: “…they shared paints and ideas, offered help to each other when needed and made art as a social activity.” The combination of art, literature, and collaborative spirit here is inspirational. Very cool! Thanks for sharing this, along with the video!

  2. I was in a literacy curriculum revision committee meeting this week, and one teacher offered up that he believed writing is a social activity. Maybe all of the arts are – music, visual arts, writing, reading, etc. Sometimes we think of those things as being created in isolation, but your post and pictures prove otherwise! LOVE that Quidditch game!

  3. I always allowed messy art projects at school. I don’t like them at home, but when I was a classroom teacher I never minded the mess. (Plus, fourth and fifth graders are helpful cleaners!)

  4. Yes, I feel that art is a social activity! I hosted a small group of ladies, we painted together. It reminds me of the quilting bees from years ago.

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